Connecting by Heart at Writers Conferences

I’m back from spending several snowy days in Boston for the AWP Annual Conference & Bookfair. Next week I’m traveling to Ohio to teach at another writers conference, at Columbus State Community College on March 23. These trips aren’t easy when you consider the time away from my family and the expense they require so why do I do it? Because I like to show up in the world as a writer. Dan Kennedy, a well-known marketer in the entrepreneurial world, says to succeed in most endeavors you have to “be somewhere and be somebody.” For me that means showing up as the author Sophfronia Scott, reading my work, and teaching as much as possible.

For you, it could be the process of answering the questions most writers have: “How do I get an agent? How do I get an editor interested in my work?” Honestly, you can send queries until your computer breaks down–and that can be a start–but nothing beats meeting an agent or editor in person and making a sincere connection,  not just pitching your book.

AWP stands for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs and their gathering is the largest literary conference in North America. Last week’s session drew 12,000 writers, editors and exhibitors from schools, literary journals, and presses large and small. The conference also features hundreds of panels and readings. When I first saw the program, it was so thick it made me want to lie down and take a nap. I was exhausted just considering my schedule.

But that kind of thinking happened because this was my first AWP Conference and I momentarily had forgotten there were:

• specific aspects of publishing or writing I wanted to learn
• people I want to see or meet.

I didn’t have to do or attend anything else that didn’t fit in with these two points. So, with this focus in mind, I had a terrific time because I saw friends, met lovely social media contacts in person, and had great conversations with the editors of literary journals I admire.

Here’s a sampling of the journals I picked up or discussed at the conference. Some of these, such as AGNI, Hunger Mountain, Poetry, and Tin House, I already subscribe to. Others such as the Kenyon Review, the Indiana Review, Creative Nonfiction and the Missouri Review are journals I’d heard of where I want to submit work. Others were discoveries: Moon City Review, Lake Effect, Santa Clara Review. Online submission processes make it easy for writers to send work to tons of magazines sight unseen. However I prefer to send work to journals I know and admire. I want to hold the publication in my hands, leaf through the pages, read samples, and talk to the editors. The conference allowed me to do that.

Will this mean my work will be accepted automatically? No. But we have started a conversation–one I hope will continue as I continue to write and submit work. The editors will get to know my writing better as I hope to know their journals better. This is so much more agreeable than writing and submitting into a void.

I’ll write more about my experiences in coming days, but for now two highlights of my conference:

• A student reading and then socializing with my beloved fellow writers from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
• Introducing a dear friend who happens to be a prize-winning writer, to one of my Harvard classmates who happens to be an editor at a top literary journal. There’s nothing better than helping others make great connections.

I encourage you to decide who you want to be as a writer and do your best to surround yourself with friends (yes, friends, not just networking contacts) with whom you can share support and connections. It might make you a more productive writer. For my part, I’m certainly a happier one! 

Here’s to your excellent writing life,